Victoria's Puppet
by HouseofNightnerdx
Summary: We all know that Victoria used Riley to get to Bella in Eclipse. But was RIley really brainwashed by her or did he have his own views? Rated K. R
1. Chapter 1

"Victoria…" was called into the cold, empty winter's air. I turned to the red headed beauty to the side of me, as she cocked her head to the growl of her name. But she was not shaken by the tone of it, taking it more as an invitation than a warning. Her face brightened, her beauty illuminated by the snow as she nodded towards me, eager to locate the one who called her name. The one she called Edward.

I watched her intently as she stealthily left my side her body succumbing to the call. She moved away from me too quickly for my liking but the sweet memory of her telling me she loved me slapped the doubts from my head. I followed behind, feeling protective of my newly found mate but also a little eager too. I had understood why avenging her friend's death was so important to her, as justice was needed and as her soul mate I was rooted on her side, with roots that not even a manipulating group of vampires could uproot. But my more independent and humanistic side, the side that I hid from Victoria so well was resenting the idea. They had never done anything to me and so the thought of killing them was tinged with hesitation that was sure to leave its own bitter aftertaste when the 'revenge' was received.

I felt Victoria's eyes on me, seducing me forward. My internal battle had only lasted a fraction of a second but was still long enough to leave her impatient. Oh how I loved her stubborn side. The side that pulled me to her. The side that could lead me to kill anyone.

Taking a breath I emerged from the snow dusted trees within the forest, Victoria by my side, but half an inch ahead. My body fell into hunter mode, my eyes squinting, taking in every single move, observing. Once my eyes and ears had had their fill of the surrounding area my nose was invited in to feed. It seemed recoil from the surroundings as soon as it pounced. There was a putrid stench that filled me with disgust, flaring my nostrils and causing me to gag. My eyes soon located the smell and I immediately focused on the so-called 'Bella'. My eyes fixated on her, from the moment they found her. Not from hatred or love or sadness but from confusion and a sense of familiarity. I had been following her for a while now and I had come to know her well. But I had never until now seen her true identity. The side of me that I had been trying to hide for so long ignited, my darker side, the side that came down to only Victoria tried desperately to put out the flames but it was unsuccessful. Just the image of this girl in front of me tweaked at my long lost human memories. The one I'd lost all those months ago that day on the docks.

An image filled my head, a frantic girl running through an overcrowded airport, pushing her way through families. The image changed, forming another memory. I was at 'work' at the local hospital. I had been working behind the desk, when an odd looking woman approached me. She looked old enough to be my mother but she dressed and carried a presence that suggested otherwise. Worry painted her features as she hurriedly asked where Bella Swan was recovering. I checked the rooms and asked her to follow me. She followed me down the hall and we stopped on the second door on the right. The door was open halfway and I could see the girl lying there. Her visitor ran towards her tears pouring down their cheeks. I couldn't help but smile at the image, feeling sorry for the poor girl who'd been reduced to a hospital bed. I snapped out of my haze, the fir within me still smoldering. But the girl was looking at Victoria, fear glazing her features. The fear in her eyes fueled my fire and a tear escaped her eyes. The tear slivered down her face; much like the way the rain slivered down my burning body the day Victoria had changed me. It brought an anger from within, for the unmoral killing of this innocent girl, for the cruel manner in which my life was taken from me and for the stupid dependency I had to this woman on my left. But as soon as the fire took over, it vanished completely when an unfamiliar voice called.

"Riley"

My head snapped to the boy in front of me and I recoiled from his voice. No one but Victoria had called my name in an encouraging voice before and it was completely alien to me. My independent side vanished altogether, as if it had never made itself known, leaving room for Victoria to weave her way back in. I turned to her in confusion, realizing that she'd had cocked her head towards Edward and that was my invitation. But my eyes widened with the attention I was receiving. I didn't like being in the centre of the equation.

"She's lying to you, Riley," he called again. "Listen to me. She's lying to you just like she lied to the others who are dying now in the clearing. You know that she's lied to them, that she had _you _lie to them, that neither of you were ever going to help them. Is it so hard to believe that she's lied to you, too?"

His words sent confusion coursing through my body and I wavering between the words of Edward and the intense gaze that radiated from Victoria. I found myself adjusting my position, to match the few inches to the right Edward had shifted. I was trying to make clear that although his words had got to me, they hadn't taken me over yet.

"She doesn't love you, Riley. She never has. She loved someone named James, and you're no more than a tool to her."

At the sound of James' name Victoria snarled into the air, causing me to glance at her. Her eyes stayed locked on Bella and I couldn't help but still believe her. After all she was the first person I saw when I changed, the person who brought me through those months of blood lust and I had a deep bond with her that couldn't be broken on a snowy mountainside.

"Riley?" Edward called a third time.

I turned back to him.

"She knows that I will kill you, Riley. She _wants _you to die so that she doesn't have to keep up the pretense anymore. Yes – you've seen that, haven't you? You've read the reluctance in her eyes, suspected a false note in her promises. You were right. She's never wanted you. Every kiss, every touch was a lie."

He moved towards me again, causing Victoria to focus on a gap that lay between the two lovers. I repositioned myself, but I hesitated a bit.

"You don't have to die," Edward promised. "There are other ways to live than the way she's shown you. It's not all lies and blood, Riley. You can walk away right now. You don't have to die for her lies. Last chance, Riley."

I looked at Victoria, desperate for answers.

"He's the liar, Riley. I told you about their mind tricks. You know I love only you," she smiled.

I squared my shoulders and the sheer look in Victoria's eyes settled the score. I cared no more for innocent lives being lost. Mine had been lost and no one had paid. But if the love of my life wanted me to take it out on Edward then I would.

But I was thrown to the ground by something heavy and furry. And it all went black.


	2. Chapter 2

I had never really thought about what would happen now. Mostly because I refused to think that it could. But the never-ending darkness and the deafening silence told me it could. And that it had.

Victoria had lied, right from the start. Every single word she had uttered had just been a line, a poisonous line in a murderous play. And I was the victim. It seems ironic really, how my world is full of darkness now, yet it's the light that was shed that has brought me to it. The light that is the truth about everything and anything Victoria said. I had been nothing but her tool, her doll, her puppet. And although the strings are now tangled and beyond repair, there at last out of her iron grip, free from the bonds that led me to the monster I became.

But there's a light, somewhere in the distance. I can see it, it's getting closer. At first it twitches orange and I flinch inwardly at the colour. I know I will never see it the same way ever again. I will _never _watch the sun rise over a beach somewhere in the south. Partly because of its stinging colour, one that was once a beautiful background to the glorious yellow of the sun but one that's now a constant reminder of a thing I used to love.

But it's also partly because I never will truly have the chance. I had never really thought about it before, what happens when creatures like us pass. In the small moments that I thought about the en-. _No, not the enemies. _I correct myself. _Bella and Edward. _In the small moments that I thought about Bella and Edward I had never truly understood why Edward did not change her, why such a thing was so _wrong _to him. But now I could understand. For there was no other life when we pass, no other destiny to hold onto. Nothing.

My eyes try to adjust to the darkness, desperately searching to see something that just isn't there. I feel like I'm hovering, not quite floating. The air around feels weightless, as if time and space has ground to a halt. My eyes are still fighting through the darkness with no success. But I can't help but feel as if they have weakened in strength, almost as if they were _human. _A light sudden glows in front my face, lighting the way. It's like the moment when an idea clicks in your head and a bulb lights up as if to emphasize it.

But the light is trying to show me something and soon I see a mirror facing back at me. The first thing I notice is how healthy I look. My skin seems to glow a peachy colour and my lips have reddened considerably. But a shiver of fear slivers its way through me when I take a good look at my eyes. They are no longer the deep crimson I had come so accustomed to. They are blue, the blue that I'd had when I was...when I was..._human. _

Suddenly everything changes. I find myself in a dark but lit corridor. There's one door at the end and a very old person comes straight out of it. He's not a vampire, as when he approaches, he approaches at a human pace and his eyes are a piercing green. His ebony black hair hangs at his shoulders in a neat way, with not kinks or curves in the strands. He looks at me and beams while taking my hand in both of his.

_Young one, you've come to join this._

I have no idea how I know it but the line is most definitely not spoken out loud. He seems to speak it in my head.

_Come I will show you what awaits._

I follow him silently and I wonder who he is. He leads me towards the door and the same question chants in my mind. At first I think I've said it but then he pauses in front of me. He turns, grins and whispers one word.

_Aro. _


End file.
